MAME WR No. 8 – 1945k III

Initially I assumed, what with this being called 1945, that it was further entry in Capcom’s 194X series of games. Well blow my cock off and call me wrong. It sounds like one, looks like one but it’s not made by Capcom and it has nothing to do with the aforementioned series whatsoever. It was actually developed and released in 2000 by Olympic Soft and, after a initial few goes, it transpires it’s a pretty nondescript vertical shooter… The current MAME high score recorded over at Twin Galaxies, held by Antonio Filho, is 3,070,200.

So let’s see where we can get with this one…

Firstly you get to pick from nine different planes, each from a different country and each with their own distinct shot type. To be nice and patriotic, I’ve gone for the Tornado and for the reason it’s shots spread across the screen rather than straight up. Then, after taking off from the longest aircraft carrier ever you are propelled (no pun intended as the plane has a fucking jet engine) into the heat of battle. Now, whoever called this 1945 has never attended a history lesson. If lasers and quasi-mechanical flying fortresses were in World War II then so was I. Not only that, when the games starts, it clearly states the year is AD 2000. Yes I know that this a sequel / clone of the Strikers series and they’e just kept the name going but if you’re going to set a game in the present day you might as well change the title to reflect it.

After a handful of goes it’s pretty apparent the gulf in class between this and the Capcom shooters I’ve already played in this ridiculous challenge of mine. The game suffers from a terrible amount of slowdown. At times the screen is that cluttered from bullets, your own and the enemies, and the game slowly grinds it’s gears until the screen clears. Unless, I’m missing the point and it’s intentional by the developers. A Matrix stype bullet-time effect if you will. Whatever it is, it’s bad. Trying to keep track of your plane, when the screen is that full of bullets and you’re firing your special weapon and the fact that your plane is so fucking small is just too much like hard work.

So as it stands my score is 1,166,000 which puts me at 4th in the world. I take my hat off to Antonio Filho for a) achieving such a score and b) for having the patience to get in the first place.

So all in all it’s not that this is a bad game per se, it’s just that, well yeah it is. It’s shit.